Ham and Potato Soup

I absolutely LOVE soup! In Fall and Winter I think I could eat soup every day! I made this Ham and Potato Soup last week and once it was all gone, I couldn't stop thinking about making more. Luckily I still had left over ingredients so I made some and froze the leftovers so I all I have to do is pull it out of the freezer and enjoy when I get the craving! Plus this is just the perfect thing to warm me up on these cold winter days we have been having.

This recipe was adapted from:  The Girl Who Ate Everything 

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups peeled and diced potatoes (approx. 4-5 potatoes, I use Idaho potatoes)
• 1/3 cup diced celery (approx. 5 stalks)
• 1/3 cup finely chopped onion (about 1/2 of a small onion)
• 1/2 cup carrot, diced (approx. 3 decent size carrots)
• 1 cup diced cooked ham (buy a ham steak in the deli section)
• 4 cups chicken broth (I use two of the 16.9 oz. chicken stock from Costco- could maybe go like 1 and 3/4 of one, depending on how thick you want it to be.)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 1 teaspoon ground white or black pepper, or to taste
• 5 tablespoons butter
• 5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 cups milk

Instructions

1. Combine the potatoes, celery, onion, carrot, ham and chicken broth in a stockpot. Bring to a boil, then cook over medium heat until potatoes are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the salt and pepper.
2. In a separate saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour with a fork, and cook, stirring constantly until thick, about 1 minute. Make sure that your burner is not too hot because it will quickly thicken up! Slowly stir in milk so that lumps don't form and until all of the milk has been added. Continue stirring over medium-low heat until thick, 4 to 5 minutes. 
3. Stir the milk mixture into the stockpot, and cook soup until heated through.
4. Top with cheddar cheese, chives, and bacon if desired. Serve immediately.

The most time consuming part of this soup is all the chopping of the vegetables and ham, otherwise it is pretty quick. You could always do the chopping ahead of time and then throw everything together when you're ready to cook if you wanted to. This also makes quite a bit of soup. I think that it's perfect for a freezer meal (and some now!). 

What is your favorite kind of soup?

Thanks for stopping by!